Individuality

              My name is Tanika Jasmine Lowery. The "T" derives from my dad, Tony; The "J" comes from my mother, Jennifer. My dad does not really know why he named me Tanika except the fact that he wanted all of his children's names to start with T.J.  Growing up I never gave much thought to my name. My name was a title people choose to call me, and a title I was trained to respond to. I was just grateful my name was not too "outrageous", or too "common". I grew up in the rough part of town in D.C. Names were used to place unique titling on ones' child. Parents wanted their child to be the first Carmelo or the first Beyonce. I only worried about being able to get a decent job or being able to put my name on a resume and it being pronounceable. It was not until I reached high school that I really started to love my name.

           As I stood in the front of my ninth grade homeroom class, I introduced myself as Tanika Lowery. I took my studies seriously and demanded respect. At the beginning of the spring semester all of my teachers were calling me Ms. Lowery. I felt important, I felt electrified, I felt like an adult instead of a teen just entering the ninth grade. Sometime after high school and a completed semester of college, I entered the military. Being a soldier is heroic at times, but during those grimy days of training and harsh assignments you are nothing but a number; you are nothing but a body in uniform. Each uniformed body fights for a way to gain experience, respect, rank, and or a title. Not only did I get expert training, but everywhere I stepped my name raised attention from various drill sergeant's, or other soldiers. Bad Boys the movie immediately came to their minds. "Mike Lowery!", "Mikey drop and give me fifty!" I learned to love my name, my alias. It not only kept me relevant, but I made plenty of friends wanting to discuss the humor in the nickname given me. No matter how insignificant a name may seem each person plays a part in this world. Each person has a title, you can make your name so influential it can be broadcast all over the media,  spoken in the mouth of every person around the world, or planted in cement downtown Hollywood because of fame and stardom. Titles are beauty and it inspires individuality. Tanika Jasmine Lowery is me and I am her.